OpenClaw Tutorial: Deploy Your AI Assistant in 60 Seconds

Most OpenClaw tutorials start with "spin up a VPS" and end three hours later with you debugging a systemd service on a Saturday afternoon.

This one is different. This is how to get OpenClaw running in 60 seconds — no terminal, no config files, no prior DevOps experience required.

What You'll Need

Before you start, have these ready:

An API key for your AI provider — either OpenAI (gpt-4o) or Anthropic (Claude). You can get one at platform.openai.com or console.anthropic.com. Takes about 3 minutes.
A Telegram account (optional but recommended) — this is how you'll talk to your assistant on your phone.
5 minutes total — most of which is just copy-pasting your API key.

That's it. No credit card for the API key yet (both providers offer free tier credits). No domain. No server. MrDelegate handles all of that.

Step 1: Create Your MrDelegate Account

Go to mrdelegate.ai/start and sign up. Takes 30 seconds.

You'll pick a plan — the $29/month plan is enough for most users. It includes a dedicated VPS, auto-updates, and full OpenClaw functionality.

Step 2: Connect Your AI Provider

Once you're in the dashboard, you'll see a prompt to add your AI API key.

Paste your OpenAI or Anthropic key into the field. MrDelegate stores it encrypted and injects it into your OpenClaw config — you never touch a .env file.

If you don't have a key yet:

OpenAI: platform.openai.com/api-keys → Create new secret key
Anthropic: console.anthropic.com/settings/keys → Create key

Free tier credits on both platforms are enough to test OpenClaw extensively before you pay anything to them.

Step 3: Connect Telegram (Recommended)

Telegram is the best interface for OpenClaw on mobile. It's free, fast, and OpenClaw's Telegram integration is the most polished of all the messaging channels.

In the MrDelegate dashboard:

Click "Add integration" → Telegram
You'll be prompted to message @BotFather on Telegram to create a bot
Copy the bot token BotFather gives you
Paste it into the dashboard

Your assistant will now respond to messages you send to your bot. From anywhere. On any device.

The whole process takes about 4 minutes if you've never used BotFather before — less if you have.

Step 4: Your Instance Goes Live

Once you've added your API key (and optionally Telegram), MrDelegate provisions your OpenClaw instance automatically.

Behind the scenes, it:

Spins up a dedicated VPS
Installs and configures OpenClaw
Sets up SSL and a domain
Starts the service with PM2
Runs a health check to confirm everything's working

You see a green "Instance active" status in your dashboard. That's it.

From start to finish: under 60 seconds of your actual time. The provisioning runs in the background while you do other things.

Step 5: Send Your First Message

Open Telegram and find the bot you created in Step 3. Send it a message — anything.

"What can you do?"

Your assistant will respond with a rundown of its capabilities. By default it can:

Answer questions using your chosen AI model
Remember context across conversations
Access tools you enable (calendar, email, etc.)
Run skills you install from ClawHub

Adding More Integrations

Once you're up and running, the MrDelegate dashboard lets you add integrations without ever touching a config file:

Google Calendar — Your assistant can check your schedule, create events, and send you reminders before meetings.

Gmail — Summarize unread emails, draft replies, flag urgent messages.

Discord — Add your assistant to a Discord server or DM channel.

GitHub — Get notified about PRs, issues, and CI failures.

Each integration takes 1–5 minutes to connect via OAuth or API key — all through the dashboard.

Common Questions

Do I need to keep my computer on? No. Your OpenClaw instance runs on MrDelegate's servers, 24/7. You can close your laptop and your assistant is still online, processing messages and running scheduled tasks.

What happens if OpenClaw crashes? MrDelegate monitors your instance and restarts it automatically. If it can't restart, you get a notification. Uptime is typically 99.9%+.

Can I customize it? Yes. You can install skills from ClawHub, write custom skills, and modify your assistant's behavior through the dashboard's settings panel.

Can I move to self-hosting later? Yes. Your config and skills export cleanly. If you ever want to take it to your own VPS, nothing is locked in.

What Self-Hosting Looks Like by Comparison

For reference: the manual OpenClaw install requires spinning up a VPS, installing Node.js, cloning the repo, configuring environment variables, setting up Nginx, getting an SSL cert, configuring PM2, and wiring up Telegram webhooks manually.

That's not a knock on OpenClaw's documentation — it's genuinely well-written. It's just that it takes a few hours if you haven't done it before, and longer if something breaks.

MrDelegate removes all of that. See the full comparison in OpenClaw vs Self-Hosting: The Real Cost Breakdown.

Ready to Go?

Your AI assistant could be live in less time than it took to read this article.

Start your free trial on MrDelegate →

No terminal. No server config. No weekend lost to debugging.

Want to learn more? See OpenClaw Hosting: The Complete Guide for 2026 for everything you need to know about OpenClaw hosting options.